When TJ Kaikobad received the news he would be the honoree during the 34th annual Toast of the Town, he said he was “really excited.”
“To be able to come in and do something worth honoring, it’s like I always say, I could never be an atheist,” Kaikobad said. “That’s my favorite mantra because God somehow figures out how to give you worthiness.”
Recently held at The Farm, the Toast of the Town is the largest fundraiser the Family Support Council has each year. The council is a nonprofit family resource agency that was founded in Dalton in 1986. Its staff strive to prevent child abuse and neglect. Its services and programs include home visitation, residential services, child advocacy services, child and adult education services, and grandparents raising grandchildren services.
“We usually have between 200 and 300 people attend every year,” said Karen Townsend, the fundraising chair.
Work ‘behind the scenes’
Born in Quetta, Pakistan, Kaikobad moved to the U.S. in 1976 at the age of 18. After attending law school in Indiana, he began a career in the restaurant industry, which brought him to Dalton in 1990. He owned and operated The Dalton Depot restaurant for almost three decades.
But it is Kaikobad’s “behind the scenes work” that makes him stand out, said Townsend.
“We have a committee, and people bring names of folks that they want to consider to honor,” she said. “People that love the community, work hard and do a lot behind the scenes. TJ’s a restauranteur, but he does so much more than that.”
Townsend said Kaikobad has served on several boards since moving to Dalton, including for the Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care Center, Dalton Convention Center, Dalton Hospitality Association and Dalton Restaurant Association.
Kaikobad currently serves as the chair for the Downtown Dalton Development Authority while serving on the executive boards for the Dalton Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce.
“He’s involved in all things Dalton and he loves children,” Townsend said. “I was not really aware of how much passion he had for children, which the Family Support Council is all about. So he was a perfect choice.”
Ben Tunnell, the president of the Family Support Council’s Board of Directors, said he used to manage The Dalton Depot for Kaikobad, who eventually introduced Tunnell to his future wife, Brandy, who also serves on the Family Support Council board.
“Brandy and I have been married for 22 years now, thanks to TJ,” Tunnell said. “We’re just super excited about him helping us raise money and awareness in pursuit of Family Support Council’s mission to create a community in which all children are safe, nurtured and empowered to reach their full potential.”
He said Kaikobad’s impact on the community has been vast.
“Really, it started with TJ’s mother Diana (Kaikobad),” he said. “She had just a real passion for those in the community and really instilled that in him at an early age, and he’s carried it on.”
Brandy Tunnell agrees.
“TJ’s drive is to help people around him,” she said. “Whether it’s the elderly community or the younger community, he is involved heavily. His mother instilled in him the drive to help others around him.”
‘One of the finest human beings’
Among the guests was state Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, who said Kaikobad is “endless in giving of his time, his ability and his talents.”
“As somebody who’s been civically minded, working with kids and youth as a juvenile probation officer for 30 years, I’ve known TJ for a long time,” Payne said. “He does so much in our community, and he never likes to get credit for it, but it’s a well-deserved honor. Very few people have any idea of how much he does. He doesn’t let it be known, but behind the scenes, he’s always generous.”
Kevin Wright, who served as the 2023 campaign chair for the United Way of Northwest Georgia, said he met Kaikobad in 1993.
“I enjoyed getting to know him through the old days at the Depot, and then our children became close friends in school,” Wright said. “Our relationship has grown over the last 21 years and he’s one of the finest human beings I know. He loves our community as much as anybody I’ve ever known. To be able to support the Family Support Council and honor TJ at the same time, it’s special.”
Supreme Court of Georgia Justice Charlie Bethel said he knew Kaikobad growing up through The Dalton Depot.
“But later on, I got to know him through getting involved in the community,” Bethel said. “Everywhere you turned, TJ was always involved in the community.”
Bethel said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the Family Support Council officials’ decision to honor Kaikobad.
“I don’t think the Family Support Council could’ve made a better choice,” Bethel said. “When you think of Toast of the Town, he’s somebody who’s made a business out of hospitality, but then also turned that into a way of building and nurturing the community, not just for his own sake, but for the sake of others. I’m gratified that he’s being recognized and I think that the turnout just reflects the respect and the appreciation the community has for him.”
The true honorees
Mayor Annalee Harlan Sams said she has known Kaikobad for seven years, but knew of him for “much longer.”
She said being able to honor a “servant-leader” like Kaikobad is “well overdue.”
“TJ has so many parallels with (the Family Support Council),” Sams said. “This organization is a protector of people in our community and TJ is a protector of our community. So it’s really awesome to come together and celebrate him.”
Sams said also being able to celebrate the Family Support Council was a “privilege.”
“This organization is just one more piece to the puzzle of what makes Dalton special, what makes it unique,” she said. “It’s the willingness and the celebration of people who are really the heroes in our community, and those are the workers of the Family Support Council. It’s a true calling.”
Kaikobad said while he is grateful to be honored, the true honorees are the people that make up the Family Support Council.
“(Executive Director) Holly Rice, her staff, the board, the volunteers, those are the people worthy of a toast,” Kaikobad said. “I can promise you, if you understood and studied what they do, your eyes would water day in and day out. It’s incredible. So I consider them the honorees.”
Kaikobad said being honored as the Toast of the Town also gave him the opportunity to honor his father Jamshed, who passed away when Kaikobad was 13, and his mother Diana.
“When I was 8, 9 and 10 years old, I saw my parents do a lot of neat things,” he said. “I never thought I’d get a chance to honor the body of work that they did. To be able to say I tried my best and this was what I was able to do, it’s incredible.”